What is your professional background as an artist ?My first professional work came when I was 17. I was hired to do an illustration for a small wild life publication. If I remember correctly, it was a picture of a Killdeer bird. My first professional comic work was a book called “The Midnight Sons” at Marvel Comics. Since then I have worked continuously at various companies: Marvel, D.C. , Acclaim, Dark Horse, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. etc.

Did you follow any specific courses / schools / universties or are you an autodidact ?I am self taught for the most part. I’ve had instruction from a few mentors: George Freeman and Nick Burns. I’ve studied the works of both comic masters and masters of Fine art and Film.

How have you been involved in illustrating Star Wars ?
How did you get involved into the Star Wars’ art/fan universe ?Randy Stradley called me up when I was at D.C. working on a Superman project. He asked me if I would do a cover for him, and of course, being a huge Star Wars fan, I jumped at the chance.
A couple of years went by when I returned to Dark Horse to do the “Star Wars: Darklighter” book with Paul Chadwick, and have been doing Star Wars ever since.

What is the character you prefer to draw ? Please explain us why.I have no preference, I am really enjoying Dass Jennir right now, were having a lot of fun with “SW: Dark Times”. The reason I enjoy Dass so much, is that he is not a SUPER Jedi, in fact, he has a limited connection with the force. Yet, he rises to the challenge and does what he can with what he has. It is an admirable effort.

What is the character that you do not like to draw the most ? Please explain us why.Clones, because… they all look the same and when they are around, there is usually a lot of them, I prefer to draw trees. I kid! I find a way to make them interesting, but they are my least favorite to draw.

Which techniques do you use to reach the final work ? (pencil, watercolour, gouache, acrylic painting, computer, etc.)Pencil, acrylic paint, and computer depending on the project.

What is the illustration that you like to have worked on the most or the best looking one according to you ? Why ?This is a tough question, but if I have to choose, I would say the cover to “Dark Times” issue 13. The reason is it was the first illustration I did of Dass Jennir, and I thought the water was successful.

Do you plan to travel in Europe for a convention or any artists show ? If yes, where? If no, would you be interrested in joining such events ?Not in the near future. I love Europe, France in particular, both my wife and I have fallen head over heals for France and would live there if it were possible.

As Mintinbox.net is a website dedicated to Star Wars collectors/collectibles, are you a Star Wars collector ?I do not collect, I use to, but that was a long time ago… I have a lot of Star Wars material though, but I buy it now because I need it for my job 😉

Do you have a preferred piece ?My favorite piece right now would be my Kotobukiya figures.

The artists list for Celebration VI was revealed few weeks ago. It was a realy good surprise for us to see you are in. Can you explain the selection process to participate, and when did you decide to participate to your first celebration as a Star Wars artist ?Randy Stradley convinced me to go, so I submitted my poster design to LucasFilm and it was accepted. To participate in the Art show for Celebration VI you had to submit a poster design, and if you were accepted, you could attend as a guest.

You work with Dark Horse Comics on Legacy, Dark Times, and Conan. Do you know if you will work on a new comics series (not necessarily Star Wars) ?Who knows the future, anything is possible, I have a few projects I am working on for various companies right now, of which it is too early to talk about, but I can tell you that for right now, there is more Star Wars work ahead.

It’s not often that we see Darth Vader in a black suit as in the OT with clones derived from the Episode III, what was your feeling when you have mixed the both of them ?To be honest, I wasn’t aware that I had.
Vader is back lit by the light behind him with minimal atmospheric light ahead of him so I made him as dark as possible without throwing him into silhouette.